Queen Ifrica claims ...Gay people loved her music

Queen Ifrica says that her songs have been embraced by members of the homosexual community.

Speaking in a video that has gone viral on social media, the Lioness On The Rise hitmaker says her music has been comforting to gay men who have been victims of rape or incest.

"I have worked extensively with people from the gay community since I did Daddy Don't Touch Me There," said Ifrica.

The reggae artiste said she has spoken to 'confused homosexuals' who called her brave for choosing to sing about touchy topics such as incest in her work. Ifrica added that, "Some of them, their fathers were the ones responsible for breaking them into that lifestyle."

She expressed pride at her choice of topics for her music. "I feel proud of myself that I am able to stand in a time where it is taboo and cliché to speak the truth about anything that has to do with self-development and self- awareness," said Ifrica.

In the video, the Below The Waist singer also said that she is determined to continue to express her opinions freely.

"We don't live in a world where you can go about and just do what you want anymore. We are censored, we are under scrutiny, there are elements among us that want to be gods," said Ifrica.

The artiste said she will continue to speak the truth for the people who are now afraid to voice their opinions because of the 'censorship' of opinions by those who "think they are the ones who raise the sun."

Faced backlash

In 2013, Queen Ifrica caused controversy during a performance at the Independence Grand Gala when she declared,"All a di people wah inna di stadium, put you hand inna di air, all straight people, man an' woman me seh".

Since then, Ifrica has faced backlash from activists from the homosexual community, especially abroad which have caused her to be removed from shows in Canada and the United States.

Earlier this month, two sponsors of the Edmonton Reggae Festival in Canada where Ifrica is one of the headliners, withdrew their sponsorship from the show citing concern for Canadian promoters inviting anti-gay performers to the country.

But Ifrica responded to the sponsors' pulling out by stating that, "Don't try to shut me up and put me in a corner and then you're able to walk around freely, that's injustice."

The musician said she desires dialogue with those who oppose her views. "If we really want to have a world where there is coexistence in it where people live alongside of each other then we have to learn how to dialogue," said Ifrica.

A press release from the Edmonton Reggae Festival announced that performers including Queen Ifrica along with I-Wayne and Capleton will have a code of conduct to adhere to in their performance at the festival. The code of conduct bans "defamation of character or group", this includes defamation on the basis of sexual preference/lifestyle, economic status, gender, ethnicity and religion.

Flashback to this interview with her and Tony Rebel alongside JFLAG's Dane Lewis in 2013 after the first infractions at the National Stadium:

J-FLAG can march with police approval – Justice Minister

KINGSTON, Jamaica – As Jamaica Forum of Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG) gets ready for its week of activities to mark growing tolerance for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community starting Emancipation Day, speculations abound on social media about a possible gay pride parade in Jamaica.

If this is the case, Minister of Justice Mark Golding told OBSERVER ONLINE that certain steps have to be followed.

“Any kind of public march would require the approval of the police.”

He said anyone can march for any cause in Jamaica.

“As long as they don’t breach the peace, commit any offences and they get commission from the police to have the march, they are able to march,” Golding said.

Minister Golding

“Jamaica is a free country and we have freedom of expression,” he added.

When quizzed about the legality of a same-sex marriage in Jamaica, the minister said: “No, they can’t have that.”

“A same-sex marriage is not recognised under our constitution,” he said.

Golding explained that the Jamaican Constitution is clear and explicitly states that marriage is between one man and one woman.

“So under our law, same-sex marriage is not recognised,” the minister reiterated.

Meanwhile the Gleaner the old lady on North Street reported in part:

J-FLAG Is Planning Gay Pride Activities, But No Parade For August - Exec

Local gay lobby, J-FLAG, is refuting reports that it will host a road parade in August when the group plans to have a series of gay pride activities.

Social media has been abuzz since yesterday following a report that the group would host a parade, similar to what is done in the United States and other countries.

However, executive director of J-FLAG, Dane Lewis, says the report is wrong, adding that Jamaica is not ready for such an event.

Meanwhile, he says the group is planning a week-long series of activities starting on Emancipation Day, August 1, to mark growing tolerance for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.

Some years ago, an attempt to host a gay parade was thwarted after anti-gay supporters reportedly planned attacks against marchers.

Jamaica is accused of being one of the most homophobic places on earth but it seems the Gleaner has overlooked the new Time Magazine story: Is ‘The Most Homophobic Place on Earth’ Turning Around? published 2015.

Last week, the US government released a report noting that anti-gay laws and the dancehall culture are responsible for perpetuating homophobia in Jamaica.

Executive director of J-FLAG, Dane Lewis, says the report that his group will host a road parade in August. Lewis says Jamaica is not ready for such an event.

also see:

No Buggery Law Removal says Justice Minister, Gay Marriage parachuted in yet again

CARICOM warned of JCHS Morality Petition Backfiring & Stifle HIV Funding

Leaders of a regional coalition of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) organizations sent a letter to CARICOM’s leadership, urging them not to fall prey to a regional panic in response to equal marriage. CariFLAGS likened calls in a 33,000+ signature evangelical petition to CARICOM that targets LGBT people to the Dominican Republic’s treatment of people of Haitian descent, urging the regional body to oppose both. Using a multilingual social media platform that also mobilized international support for Russia’s anti-homosexual propaganda law and the death-penalty anti-homosexuality law in Uganda, a Jamaican evangelical Christian group, the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society (JCHS), has collected thousands of private signatures globally for a “civil society declaration” to CARICOM. 

They plan to deliver it to the regional organ at its Barbados Heads of Government meeting this week on sustainable development that the secretary general of the United Nations (which is targeted in the online petition) will attend. Evoking faith, family and Caribbean freedom struggles, the JCHS e-petition calls on CARICOM to adopt policies that deny rights recognition to people who engage in what they call unnatural and unhealthy sexual behaviours. 

Though the “declaration” also mentions euthanasia and abortion, it grounds its concerns and fears in six examples, all of them recent efforts in the region to promote sexual health and protect rights of LGBT Caribbean people. JCHS has in the past successfully targeted CARICOM’s HIV policy making and programmes, and weakened CARICOM leadership commitment to creating an enabling environment for reversing the Caribbean’s role as the second most affected in the world by the epidemic, which is a key threat to the region’s development. Last year, in the wake of JCHS’s mobilisation in support for Brendan Bain, the University of the West Indies lost significant international funding for HIV. Retired Prof. Bain was relieved of roles as a regional policymaker with CARICOM and UWI and censured because of conflicts of interest in court testimony solicited by religious groups opposed to CARICOM policy. 

CariFLAGS, the region’s 18-year-old coalition of leading LGBT organizations, says the impact of JCHS’s current petition, and any CARICOM embrace of it, may be similar. They believe it will likely result in the transfer of millions of dollars in funds from global HIV donors, which is earmarked for addressing policy, stigma and discrimination, from CARICOM to civil society groups like theirs. An initial CARICOM application for such funds was turned down on its first round. They believe CARICOM must stand up for principle if it wants to continue to lead the region’s response to HIV. They urged CARICOM leaders to ensure neither Dominicans of Haitian descent nor Caribbean LGBT people are cast out of justice, citizenship or the nation. CariFLAGS’s mission is to build Caribbean nations where LGBT people enjoy full fruits of citizenship, and to build cultural understanding, policy, litigation and domestic movements that enable that. CariFLAGS serves on the regional coordinating mechanism for the Caribbean HIV response. 

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The actual letter

Dear CARICOM Heads of Government, CARICOM Secretary General Irwin LaRocque, and CARICOM Assistant Secretary General Douglas Slater Ensure Leadership & Funding to Preserve Healthy, Just Caribbean Societies Caribbean peoples dearly treasure freedoms that our fore-fathers and mothers valiantly fought and died for. Freedom for our bodies, and for our ability as individual Caribbean people to self determine, no matter our gender, race, faith or social station. 

We, their descendants, must routinely and soundly reject new forms of colonialism and injustice, and any attempts at re-interpretation of international human rights that in their very definition deny such rights to particular groups of people whom others define as undesirables or unholy because of their aspirations and desires. In the twenty-first century, we cannot be writing people out of justice, citizenship or the nation, whether they are of Haitian descent or lesbian and gay. 

We especially cannot engage in such social violence through a rhetoric of faith and family. Single people in our families, people in non-marital unions, and family forms that have disobeyed those seen as “decent” by our dominators are among the most Caribbean forms of kinship—ones that buttressed our collective resilience and dignity. Many in our region are in a panic over a court decision in the United States, which has joined 20 countries, with a combined population of over a billion people, where civil marriage to someone of the same sex is an option. 

This panic builds on earlier anxieties some have been stirring up in the region that Caribbean citizens using our post-Independence institutions of justice (including international conventions to which our nations have voluntarily committed) to achieve bodily autonomy and dignity they have been denied since colonialism will prevent the efforts of some faiths to ensure that a specific “moral” order holds dominion over the region. 

The Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society (JCHS) has made CARICOM’s HIV response a special target of their dominionist advocacy and agenda of faith-based social injustice. They have appointed themselves as “cultural watchmen” in preserving an old order they see under threat. They promote collaboration between churches and public health officials to keep legal regimes of sexuality-based stigma and discrimination firmly in place. 

Their destruction of PANCAP’s hard effort and consensus-building around Justice for All, a bold initiative to address health justice issues that drive HIV, is well known. Their advocacy and the ambivalence of regional political leadership has cost us important gains in a critical area of Caribbean human development—as our regional institutions have failed to engage us in an expansion of sexual and reproductive rights that would lead to improved health and prosperity. 

Instead, we remain the second leader in the world in the harmful impact of HIV, and our region’s best collective intelligence about how to end that is under consistent assault by a forceful minority seeking to deny rights to other minorities more vulnerable than they. Soon these forces’ skillful advocacy will also cost us key resources that support HIV infrastructure, personnel and services. JCHS has placed a petition on an international internet platform that also campaigned for the Russian “anti-propaganda” law that forbids public promotion of the rights of LGBT people, and for Scott Lively, the American evangelist being sued in US court there over his role in promoting the Uganda death-sentence homosexuality law that punished people for not turning in homosexual family members. 

The petition, in English, French and Spanish, and open to anyone with internet access in the world, encourages “allies from around the world” to sign; but names are kept from public view. Some 35,000 such “signatures” will be presented to you when you meet in Barbados this week, at the very moment when the region’s HIV response is also under critical scrutiny, and close to $12 million in global funding for this threat to the region’s health, economy and sustainable development hangs in the balance. 

JCHS would love to see this funding and the human rights work and accountability it is intended to support go away. Their petition pointedly labels scientific knowledge on sexuality “false”, and appeals for you to protect them in spreading junk science and other misinformation . Do not give in to panic. Hold fast to the collective principles of our regional HIV response: an evidence-basis for our understanding and interventions; creation of an enabling environment and mitigation of stigma and discrimination; and an inclusion of affected communities in charting the response. Remember that human rights is grounded on equality for all and non-discrimination. Your steadfastness and leadership are needed now more than ever. 

Do not give in to the mob. Ensure CARICOM is in the best position to secure global AIDS funding for the region we are urgently at risk of seeing go to other grantees. As you meet in Barbados to plan for Vibrant Societies and Resilient Economies, please send a clear message that neither can be achieved through discrimination, and that a post-2015 sustainable development agenda must expand sexual and reproductive rights and health across the region and include a robust, human rights- and evidence-based HIV response. Discrimination and casting people out can no more be tools for addressing HIV, sexual diversity, development and building families in our 21st century Caribbean than they can for our brothers and sisters of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic who are victims of the same human rights niggling and narrow mindedness our JCHS colleagues encourage you to adopt. 

We welcome other civil society groups and regional leaders to join our call. 

Signatories:

Dane Lewis JFLAG

Colin Robinson CAISO

Tieneke Sumter 

Caribbean Forum for Liberation and Acceptance of Genders and Sexualities

When your sex gets loud....

One has to be so careful out there even though the very slouchy change and tolerance of homosexuality in Jamaica as a discussion is still loaded with some abhorrence for anal sex and the belief that such act is too loaded with interaction with faecal matter is still real and can often lead to challenges in everyday life as persons feel justified with certain lines are crossed. Couples or persons cohabiting as same gender lovers or non romantic sex partners and who engage in loud sex overall has caused problems before and a few have made the mainstream news locally. Some strange things have been reported since May through to recently albeit we are in Pride month but sheesh the silly season is on us again.

A male couple learned the hard way in a St Catherine community after renting one of the Matalon houses which are joined together on both sides of neighbours; the original tenant has had a frequent male visitor among other friends over for some time as his friend and was present in the moving exercise some months ago but an incident earlier in April this year has had some residents in the community all of a sudden looking for or profiling persons due to their perceived sexual orientation, the slightest non conforming behaviour or too much male company as it were has become grounds for opposition. The confirmed report is that the men were heard making love in the late hours of the morning of Sunday April 12, 2015 after they arrived from an outing the night before. The men reportedly were most noisy with sounds of pleasure emanating from the living room section of the house which also joined to the neighbouring house’s bedrooms. I also have had neighbours (heterosexual) in high ecstasy complete with bed or furniture banging on the walls to emphasise the thrusting action; they have since moved and more sanguine persons now occupy the flat.

The love making men were knocked up by irate neighbours from both sides of the house with others who were alerted some time afterwards who complained bitterly about the “noise”, persons were expecting a woman to emerge from the house according to one person claiming to be an eyewitness but instead the main tenant came out apologizing profusely but it soon became apparently it was a gay couple who were emitting the lovely sounds. The decibel levels of the neighbours went up when they soon discovered the gender of the couple and as usual the homophobic rhetoric came flowing. Thankfully it never went on to a violent clash as what happened in another incident earlier this year with a lesbian who eventually was chopped by one of her neighbours on an apartment complex of all places where more middle class persons would exist thus such violence would have been unexpected.

The owner was contacted but she was way more level headed as she said sexual noises should not be reason for her to give notice to quit to the man as he is free to entertain whomever so long as it is not disturbing to others; although she took the high road on the matter the other residents even as far away as other avenues said she was inveigling homosexuals in the community and proceeded to ‘burn out’ the landlord as well. However for a peaceful existence the men were asked to leave privately by the landlord and as they moved the heckling were heard from some of the residents even as the truck with the men aboard left the block the laughing could be heard and persons had smart phones capturing the event.

Sadly there have been run-ins like this I can remember my days in Greater Portmore in the early 2000s where a friend of mine was also forced to move as he was accused of harbouring too many males including teens and that loud ‘f***’ noises emanating from the house, similar to the joined up housing units by Matalons in other housing schemes the giveaway as in similar matters is the ease at which persons can hear each other in their units. Apartment complexes and townhouses have not escaped this ‘noise’ overflow issue but the response seemed more subdued until a matter earlier this year on the Washington Boulevard property showed us otherwise.

A recent story of a young lady carried on sister blog GLBTQ Jamaica and in the Jamaica Observer earlier this year where a chopping episode involving a machete was the outcome showed us that disturbing others can be disastrous when one is perceived LGBT, unfortunately the young lady lied to the paper or withheld one of the real reasons why she was the subject of an attack; yes you guessed it loud, very loud sex with her female lover and also fights which annoyed the neighbours on the apartment complex who tried to talk to her but her temper got the better of her and hence the chop wounds we saw. While the attack from the diminutive woman is not so justified most sensible persons including the other tenants on the complex were wondering why a regularly calm introverted woman would resort to pulling a machete on a high tempered individual?

It turns out the young lady has had other visitors with noisy episodes including non sexual ones as her temperament has been a challenge for other tenants. The sympathy originally extended to the chopped victim has since died and the chopper has now garnered those voices on her side even though her demeanour had persons suggesting she was not so head righted. We sometimes make things or attract unneeded heat sometimes with our poor judgements and actions and avoidable situations but when will some of us learn it the fundamental questions. The court case has since fizzled and some fallout has been reported involving a police woman from a precinct outside of Kingston who is alleged to have owed the injured woman thousands of dollars and who was called in to handle the riled neighbour in exchange for the cancellation of the debt, that officer has since turned on the lesbian saying it was her fault for her own troubles. The matter is still alive in some sense as the aggrieved party has installed cameras in all access areas close to the chopped lesbian who has complained that she is not enjoying privacy albeit in all access areas.

The moral of the stories is just be mindful of the things we do and how even in terms of sounds is a factor just for peaceful existence; be conscious of one’s neighbours or where one lives. Jamaica maybe changing but it does not mean we have changed and sadly some things still exist no matter how we try to go around it. I am pleased that the landlord was fair about the situation obviously she is otherwise happy with her tenant suggesting an otherwise good relationship with the man that she was willing to split justice.

Peace and tolerance

H

Orgies, Intruders & Safety

Orgy party goes sour

also see from 2014: Dubious Adam4Adam Profiles, Unscrupulous Sports, Gay Imposters, Robberies & Safety ...

I hope this post serves as yet another warning to persons who organize or attend all male orgy or group sex events especially those advertised openly on gay hookup sites or social media outlets.

A senior statesman from the community renowned for his sometime spontaneous and wild parties which have been mostly successful hence his reputation built over time found himself and his guests in a quandary in April of this year at a guest house in western Jamaica. The event was advertised on social media in one particular all male group and also on adam4adam but was removed from the latter after a few days given the mistrust of such sites when it comes to Jamaican events and previous challenges with what is sometimes described a “fake gays” who are more into using the event while pretending to be interested to either rob or blackmail the host in some way.

One case as reported had a person with a hidden camera who later after the session edited the clip and then threatened the organizer with exposure if he did not hand over a certain sum, the culprit in that matter hardly participated in the happenings as it was not a dark room event as most orgies tend to be but an oral one with high visibility of participants. It would seem in this case in western Jamaica two of the participants also had ulterior motives as they pulled knives on the other men as the event unfolded and moans of ecstasy could be heard. I manage to speak to one participant by phone who said he was suspicious from their arrival, they were late, they came by a white Toyota Corolla which also had another man aboard as a driver and he left afterwards.

The two miscreants also were not willing participants my phone source continued; while they had erections and were semi-nude they really offered no pleasurable activity to the collective despite the fact that the other participants were attractive, the session was also an orgy based theme so no penetration was permitted. The men hesitantly went along and then took their chance during the break of course conveniently when the rest of persons were spent from activity and pulled knives and choppers while demanding smart phones, jewellery etc. They got away with several phones, tablets and even clothing with brand names were taken and what appeared to be a threat to those relieved as they said they saw video and facebook, instagram profiles on the phones which they said they may use, looks familiar to the referenced case above?

The organizer has been distraught since the matter occurred but has been consoled by persons who have since heard the report and do not blame him fully but a deep background check should have been done prior to preparing the list and subsequent venue information sharing so as to avoid any eventuality. One won’t be always sure speaking from personal experience as I have had dupes as well in a one night session I had planned at a friend’s house the bad egg of the mix turned out to be more interested in what he could rob from us at the time, so I understand fully the conundrum the organizer must be feeling. It is refreshing the other guys are not angry per say and that their lives are spared, some have said to have vowed to not attend anymore orgies as no one can be trusted these days.

I so agree as austerity takes hold in Jamaica there are those who use same gender sex and perceptions of gay men having money and paying for “real men” for sexual liaisons and they get into same with deceptive motives, they make demands for regular money or smartphones or clothes and shoes sometimes under pain of exposure via threat of blackmail. One has to be so careful with these so called “thuggy thugs” “heaviots” or hyper masculine types they may look physically attractive or are well endowed but it is not worth it to be lured into a trap that may jeopardise your safety, reputation if exposed or your life. The demands can sometimes get more intense even after satisfying of yielding to the previous one as they use this form of extortion to gain money and what is worse they take this money to their so called babymothers or such or waste it on non-essential items.

A teacher formerly residing on the Washing Boulevard area learnt the hard way as well in 2013 when what he thought was a good catch at a party he attended turned out to be a dupe looking for an opportunity to rob someone, in that case he had an unloaded gun as surmised by the victim as he was bummy during his attack and just talked too much for a man with a gun. The victim took no chances however and arrived at the conclusion afterwards upon reflection of the matter. A similar incident also took place in Ensom City in 2014 where a man took home a reported catch only to be relieved of his laptop, cash, smartphones and tablets, in his case the items had passwords and fingerprint security features activated. Reporting such matters to the police can be tricky as one would have to leave out the motive for the man being there in the first place as some cops still treat such matters with scant regards and designate them as domestic matters to be resolved by the parties involved.

One also need to be oh so careful on hookup sites as hinted above for fake profiles sometimes complete with attractive nude photos to lure unsuspecting persons enamored by testicular beauty they make contain, especially the ones without head shots, apart someone who may want to protect their identity it may also be a miscreant with ill will hiding to entrap persons.

The cruising community have not escaped this fake intent infiltration intent as recent incidents though unconfirmed in western Kingston suggest men posing as interested in some sort of sexual play turn out to be robbers or homophobes who found out about a particular spot and decide to destroy the opportunity for men to hookup by busting it.

The moral of the story from me:

Background checks for orgy invitees must be done

Verify invitees’ sexual orientation or practices to determine how they will participate

Do not reveal venue location unless one is absolutely sure

Avoid dark room sessions; you must be able to see the faces of invitees/participants

Just be safe out there folks it is not easy anywhere in the world of male hook-ups, even the great countries of the world have this particular problem. A word to the wise is sufficient.

Peace and tolerance

H